Reviews with content warning for Death - Crown and Bones

Almost a 3 star read. A lot seemed to fall flat and become boring. The end was the only thing that saved it for me. More than 500 pages of this easily could have been reduced down to something more fast paced. I felt like
I was reading this for ever. Details that felt important seemed to get lost or forgotten. The ending was pretty good however and felt fast paced while everything else was very slow. I will likely read the final just to see what happens.

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eleek0609's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

4.0

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jen1804's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

⚠️SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS AHEAD⚠️
Poppy and Cas’ relationship is one of my favourite book couples in the history of book couples. And Cas is one to rival the love I have for Rhysand🙊 which is not a statement to be taken lightly bc FEYSAND TIL I DIE. But Cas’ nonchalance is honestly just the best thing to read. I love the two of them together and I love the mixture of plot and romance in this series.
I am OBSESSED with Poppy being this violent, murderous, stubborn, hot headed, sarcastic character, with the ability to fight and kill like it’s nothing, but with a gigantic heart for those she cares about. Or as Casteel describes her:

“Such a stunning, vicious little creature.”

I love her journey throughout this book. When I think back to where we began this third book, in comparison to how we’ve ended, so much has happened! This book does have a lot of plot but that also comes with a huge lot of info dumping which is sometimes difficult to digest and understand. But we love a well thought out, complex and layered story line!
Poppy is a mother fucking god and I am so here for her popping all the way off when it comes to discovering and using her powers. She’s the type of heroine who will burn the world down to save the one she loves and I am so here for that.

“Make sure she understands that her survival hinges on Casteel. She will release him, or she will see each and every one of her cities leveled. If she touches him again, I will destroy her precious Malec, and I can. I know where to find him. He lives. For now. And if she kills Casteel? If anyone kills him?” I tilted my head, catching his gaze as he tried to find where the draken had flown off to. “I will make sure her death is a slow one that will take hundreds of years to complete.“

And I also love that it’s the same way Casteel feels about her.

“No risk is too great, nor is anything too sacred. Because she is my everything. There is nothing greater than her, and I do mean nothing.”

Poppy understands that innocent people could die in the process but does she care at this point? no she does not, and I love reading about this sort of I-might-be-the-heroine-but-I-can-be-villainous behaviour that she has going on.
I also hugely rate Queen Ileana as the villain of this series, she is RUTHLESS.
There were moments in this book which gave me goosebumps, and I loved Poppy discovering more and more about who she is, her heritage and her abilities, using them for good and also for WRATH. I absolutely ADORED every time both Cas and Poppy put someone in their place if they disrespected her. And I loved the amount of allegiance and admiration she received in this book, the admiration she deserves I might add. One of my favourite FMCs of all time.
If someone could explain the whole casserole thing to me though I’d be most grateful please and thanks.
Satisfactory ending? Yessssssss so good!

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